I Have a Superpower

I spent last weekend in New York City eating too much pastry and walking until my feet hurt. There were plans to meet up with some fantastic Geeks on Saturday night, and when I saw how far the designated bar was from my hotel, I decided to give my feet a rest and take a cab. This is tricky business, especially if you come from a place where hailing one generally means making a phone call. Standing on the side of the road with traffic flying by in a blur and your arm sticking out waiting for a pigeon to land on it is awkward. So, I took the easy way out and had the nice man at the hotel with the uniform and the whistle get one for me. Unfortunately, bars do not have guys in hats with magic whistles, or at least not any you’d want to talk to, so I was on my own getting home. Without any video proving otherwise, let’s just say getting a cab was challenging. Cab Hailing was not my superpower.
Cut to the next day and I again found myself in need of a cab, but in broad daylight and with many witnesses. I took a deep breath, walked to the curb, threw my hand into the air….and a cab instantly cut across three lanes of traffic to me. I was so stunned I forgot to put my hand down for a second. After we were “safely” on our way, I stared at my hand and wondered if I had developed some sort of Cab Hailing Superpower. Yes, I decided, at some point I must have been bitten by a radioactive spider or pooped on by a magic pigeon and now had great power and great responsibility. This got my thinking about superpowers and which ones I’d choose, because one just isn’t enough.

My first choice was Superspeed. I’d sleep in every day since it would take only seconds to go through my morning routine and I wouldn’t need to worry about driving anymore because with Superspeed I would get there faster by walking. But, I wondered, what if it rained or snowed? This would cause a problem so I might need another superpower. Weather Resistance. No hazard of nature could bother me as I sped along the highway, passing mere mortals in their silly, slow Lamborghinis and Porsches. But what if the blur of my approach in the rear view mirror caused them to swerve and crash into me? I needed another superpower.

Superstrength. If someone crashed into me then they’d have a Nicole shaped dent in their front fender and I’d be none the worse for wear. Only, these powers might attract unwanted government attention. They might try to use me for clandestine operations or worse, dissect me and figure out how I work. How to get around this? Hypnosis. All anyone would remember is a really fast deer that somehow managed to get away after bouncing off their hood an leaving an oddly shaped dent. I would be a superfast, weather resistant, superstrong, hypnotist. All this went through my head as I rode in the back of a cab, but as I got out and paid the man I decided that the great power and responsibility of all those superpowers was just too much. I’m content with Cab Hailing. What superpower are you hoping for when the radioactive spider bites you?

Whenever someone asks what super-power I'd want, I always say the same thing: Super-persuasion, the ability to talk anyone into anything and make them think it was THEIR idea. Admittedly, not as flashy as being able to fly or throw buses around, but far more useful!